One Dish Chicken Enchilada Quinoa Casserole

This One Dish Chicken Enchilada Quinoa Casserole is an easy, healthy meal that leans on pantry staples for a delicious dinner with Southwestern flair! Use leftover chicken and quinoa to make this 7-ingredient dish even easier for a busy weeknight. (gluten-free)

My husband and I both love enchiladas. (Actually we love any Tex-Mex. It’s part of being Texan.) But some nights, making sauce and meat and then hand-rolling an entire sheet pan of enchiladas AND cleaning up is just not going to happen. Some nights I’m more in a ‘dump everything in a pan and bake it with some cheese while I drink wine‘ kind of mood. For those nights, this one dish chicken enchilada quinoa casserole is perfect!

(For nights when we are in the mood to make enchiladas, we make these green chile chicken enchiladas!)

Why You’ll Love This One Dish Quinoa Enchilada Casserole

• It’s got all of the delicious southwest flavors of green chile chicken enchiladas, minus the work and the mess. And it’s even easier if you have leftover chicken and quinoa already in your refrigerator, so all you have to do is dump and bake!
• It’s healthy! It’s full of protein from chicken and quinoa, plus tons of veggies. I make it healthier with homemade green enchilada sauce, but you can absolutely use premade sauce. 
• It’s a great way to use up ingredients you have on hand (like leftover quinoa, that half can of corn in the fridge, your wilting cilantro, and any spare veggies you want to throw in).
• It’s freezer and meal prep-friendly. Leftovers heat up great the next day so that you have lunch ready to go! Or, freeze just before baking so that all you have to do when the time comes is pop it out of the freezer and into the oven!

How To Make One Dish Chicken Enchilada Quinoa Casserole

1. Prepare chicken and quinoa if it’s not already made. Chop onion and bell pepper. 
2. Dump everything in a big bowl (or directly into the baking dish, if you want!) and give it a good stir. 
3. Cover with cheese and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350°F.

How easy was that?

Ingredient Swaps For An Even Easier Dinner

• I use homemade green enchilada sauce, but feel free to use premade sauce. If you don’t have green sauce, red works, too!
• Rotisserie chicken or even canned chicken would make this dish super easy to throw together. 
• You can use frozen quinoa if you have it, or swap in other cooked whole grain, like rice or farro. 
• If you don’t have a bell pepper, you can used canned diced green chiles or roasted red peppers. 
• To make this dish vegetarian, leave out the chicken and add some canned black beans! Or add black beans with the chicken for an extra dose of plant protein and fiber. 

How To Freeze This Enchilada Quinoa Casserole

To make this a freezer meal, simply prepare it up to the point of baking, then cover it and pop it in the freezer. When you’re ready to eat it, you can thaw it in the refrigerator for a day and bake as directed, or place it in the oven from the freezer and bake, covered, at 350°F for about an hour, or until the internal temperature reaches 160F°. Remove the cover for the last 10-15 minutes of baking to get the cheese golden and bubbly. 

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